Review #3 Is In

13. September 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: Opera, Reviews

… and it’s from San Francisco Classical Voice. Written by Thomas Busse (a singer I’m not at all familiar with … guess I”ll have to see where he is singing and go hear him at some point), it has good things and bad things to say about the production. I got the feeling he had low expectations for anything here in my little town, but perhaps I’m just overly sensitive. That’s not uncommon for me, I know!

He begins:

It has been a while since I checked in with Opera San José. On Sunday afternoon I heard its new production of Mozart’s Idomeneo. The opera was jointly produced with the Packard Humanities Institute, and the infusion of Packard cash was evident throughout the performance. In the tech world, the greatest successes are usually those first to market. Later entrants — in this case, the still-evolving Opera San José — have to struggle to gain a foothold. Even though OSJ has grown tremendously since it moved into the lovingly restored California Theatre several years ago (also a Packard project), the company’s work has often been characterized by a community theater ethos. With this production, however, OSJ was able to shed most of that and step everything up to the level of its ambition.

The Knights

13. September 2011 · Comments Off on The Knights · Categories: Videos

… not of Columbus, mind you.

The video is nearly 27 minutes long, so be ready for that (unfortunately you don’t see the full picture here, so you might want to click on the link beneath it).

Watch the full episode. See more THIRTEEN Specials.

Random thoughts in my typical poorly put together way …
I love the sound of the group. Some newly put together groups may have enthusiasm but the quality is lower. Not so, from what I can tell, with this group. I love their attitude. I do want to know what the “stereotypical musician” is (was?) and how they’ve changed that image. I just have this feeling that that image isn’t even real. We have fun. We laugh. We goof off. We work very hard. True, we aren’t a democracy, though. The conductor is the boss, to be sure. We don’t vote. Go figure. So sure, there are things they do differently. But that stiff classical musician thing … I just so rarely see that. I think that image is a very false one. I’m not even sure where it came from. Movies, maybe? We’ve played at the county fair, so that’s not all that unusual. Heck, we played at the shopping mall back in the day. (But I will confess that I don’t miss the mall or the fair gigs. I’m glad those days are over for me.) But I enjoyed the video tremendously. Great fun!

For Your Listening Enjoyment

13. September 2011 · Comments Off on For Your Listening Enjoyment · Categories: For Your Listening Enjoyment

… perhaps as a sort of apology for my ACappellaTuesday™ post which did run on a bit long and after a while got on my nerves … enjoy some Zipoli, okay? (Not a flawless performance, but the one I had posted first ended in the middle of the work! Ack!)

FBQD

13. September 2011 · Comments Off on FBQD · Categories: FBQD

Currently learning flute and oboe before tomorrow UUUGH!

ACappellaTuesday™

13. September 2011 · Comments Off on ACappellaTuesday™ · Categories: ACappellaTuesday™

Local Vocal

We Speak Italian

13. September 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Opera, Read Online

I frequently tell new students that we musicians are bilingual (truth be told, this will make many of my student trilingual, and that makes me quite envious!). I also tell them that if they go to Italy they will be able to boss people around, telling them to be louder, softer, faster or slower, but if they really need anything they might be in a bit of trouble.

But NOW? … well, my friend Bob Kingston just posted the following at Google+

Opera season is about to start up again, and so in an effort to inform and enlighten I thought I’d share a few of my favorite Italian-language asides, utterances, and interjections, most of which have been taken from texts by such 19th-century librettists as Cammarano, Tottola, Ferretti, and Romani.

The next time you see or hear a character mutter something to themselves in a moment of great dramatic intensity, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what they’re actually saying.

“Io gelo!” – “I freeze!”
“Io gelo ed ardo” – “I freeze and burn”
“Gelo in un tempo” – “At one moment I freeze”
“Il gelo di morte”- “The chill of death”
“Un gelo mi corse per le vene” – “A chill runs through my veins”
“Son di gelo, son di sasso, fredda man mi stringe il cor” – “I’m frozen, made of stone, a cold hand grips my heart”
“Mi fa gelare e fremere” – “It makes me cold and anxious”
“Tutto il sangue mi si agghiaccia” – “My blood freezes”
“Balzar mi sento il cor” – “My heart beats in anticipation”
“Ti frena o povero mio cor” – “Be still, poor heart”
“Il crin mi drizzera” – “My hair stands on end”
“Un momento di spaventole silenzio” – “A moment of fearful silence”
“Un gemer fioco” – “A weak groan”
“Che abisso di orror!” – “What depths of horror!”
“Io tremo!” – “I shudder!”
“Ma trema!” – “But beware!”
“Ho sul ciglio la benda dell’ira” – “I am blinded with rage”
“Il patibolo s’appresta” – “The gallows draw nearer”
“Io vo’ di lui le viscere!” – “I want to disembowel him!”
“Mi strazia il rio velen!” – “The evil poison tears me apart!”
“Ha di tigre in petto il cor” – “He/she has the heart of a tiger in his/her breast”
“D’amore avvampo!” – “I am afire with love!”
“Le mie luci ricopre un vel'” – “A veil covers my eyes”
“Sul capo un fulmine piomba” – “A thunderbolt falls on my head”
“O cimento!” – “Oh, what a trial this is!”
“O smania!” – “Oh, madness!”

TQOD

13. September 2011 · Comments Off on TQOD · Categories: TQOD

Oboe and basson omg. The blowing stick is so thin, its like gonna break 🙁